Minuteman in Missouri, Part One
In June 1961, Whiteman Air Force Base, located 60 miles east of Kansas City and situated close to the towns of Sedalia and Knob Noster, Missouri, was chosen to be the home of the fourth Minuteman wing - Wing IV. Formerly the Sedalia Army Airfield, the base had seen extensive use by the Army Air Corps during the Second World War. The 351st Bombardment Group, previously active from 1942-1945 and from 1948-1949, had served with the Eighth Air Force in Europe and took part in bombing raids on Germany, hitting industrial and military targets critical to the war effort. Developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the LGM-30A Minuteman I weapons system entered service with Strategic Air Command (SAC) in October 1962, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was the first solid-fuel ICBM to be used by the US, and was far more stable and less dangerous to work with than previous systems. It was decided to base them underground like the Titan force instead of above ground, to give the mi...